For those readers who are not family and friends (I will assume slim to few), I apologize for having left you hanging and not finishing our story. My procrastination has gotten the best of me and to be honest I came very close to just leaving it the blog unfinished due to my laziness. We did complete our journey. One year ago today we climbed to the top of Mount Katahdin and became thru hikers. Here is the account of that morning as I remember it.
7/27/2014 Day 146 The Birches Lean-to to Baxter Peak, Mount Katahdin - 5.1 miles
It had become our norm to wake up with the sun but today we were up before the sun. It was a gloomy, cloudy morning. We considered trying to wait and get a later start hoping the weather would clear a bit but we were anxious to get started. We ate our breakfast, tore down camp, and packed our bags for the last time.We left Long Spoon, Lazer Death Kill, Ember, and Tail Lights and together with Kestrel and Sharpshin we made our way to the trail head; Guiseppe waited to catch up with his brothers. We made our way to the trail head where we signed in and began our climb of Katahdin.
The hike was relatively easy to begin with but as we gained elevation the terrain became much more difficult. As we made our way to tree line the wind blew so hard it made walking difficult and soon we were no longer walking but climbing up and over rocks for what was one of the most difficult climbs of the entire trail. The boys had hiked on as the terrain became more difficult, it didn't seem to slow them much. As we neared the Tableland and Thoreau Spring, Giuseppe and his brother caught up to us. At this point the terrain had become more of what we were used to and we were able to enjoy ourselves for what would be the last of our 2186 miles.
Through the dense fog, I noticed what was a small crowd of people. Assuming the crowd was gathered at the summit I began to hike faster eventually breaking into a slight jog when I finally spotted the famous Mount Katahdin wooden sign I had been admiring in photos for years. I was speechless as we made our way to the sign and finally put my hands on what we had been walking toward for 5 months. We took a moment to reflect quietly on what we had just accomplished but soon the obligatory Mount Katahdin photo session and celebration ensued. We spent an hour or so hanging out at the summit with Kestrel, Sharpshin, and Giuseppe just enjoying the end together. The crowd began to grow as more and more day hikers approached the summit and we felt we had to tear ourselves from Baxter Peak to give others the opportunity to enjoy the beauty. As we made our way back down the mountain we passed the other half of our trail family giving quick hugs as to not delay their finish. The clouds lifted as we descended offering some of the scenic vistas we had hope for.
As we made our way to the trail head Wide Load's parents met us and hiked out with us. After hanging out at the foot of the mountain for a bit, we tossed our packs in the rental car and made our way to Millinocket where we would spend one last evening with our trail family before heading home. We had dinner at the Appalachian Trail Cafe with both our family and our trail family enjoying one last night together before we would all part ways the following morning.
The following day we loaded up with Wide Load's parents and began our journey back to southern Ohio. I remember noticing when we had traveled 100 miles and thinking how long that would have taken us to hike. It felt strange to suddenly be covering so much ground. It's hard to explain but as ready as I was to be finished with the trail, I found myself missing it already. We had a quick visit with Ayce as we passed near Boston; we hadn't seen him since Duncannon, PA. In two days we were back home. I dreamed of the trail every night for about two weeks when we returned, each morning waking to the disappointment that it was just a dream. Our hike, however, was no longer a dream but now a memory. One year later I can say with complete honesty, not a day goes by that I don't think of one of the 146 days we spent on that trail and the many, many wonderful people we met along the way. As always, thanks for reading.
Moose
"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."
Dr. Seuss
